Folie Douce was not nearly as good a race mare as her half sisters Nuit de Folies and Mandolina but had enough ability to place in several races considered listed events in the modern era. She proved an important broodmare on both sides of the Atlantic.

Race record

31 starts, 3 wins, 1,527,199 French francs

1951:

2nd Prix de Saint-Patrick (FR)

1952:

3rd Prix des Lilas (FR)

Per Peerage of Racehorses (Richard Ulbrich), Folie Douce also ran second in the Prix Joubert.

As an individual

A smallish bay mare, Folie Douce was attractive and neatly made with good overall balance.

As a producer

Designated as a Reine-de-Course by pedigree analyst Ellen Parker, Folie Douce produced eight named foals, of which six started and won. Her important foals are as follow:

Mother Goose (1955, by Escamillo) won the 1958 Princess Royal Stakes and was runner-up in England's classic Oaks Stakes that same year.

Mi Carina (1956, by Ocarina) was acclaimed as France's champion 3-year-old filly of 1959 after winning that year's Prix Vermeille.

Old England (1958, by Wild Risk) was stakes-placed on the race course. She is the third dam of 2008 Prix du Jockey Club (French Derby, FR-G1) winner Vision d'Etat.

Peroxide Blonde (1960, by Ballymoss) won one of her two starts. She is the dam of 1968 Belmont Stakes winner and American co-champion 3-year-old male Stage Door Johnny (by Prince John). She is also the second dam of three stakes winners and the third dam of multiple Grade 3 winner Dusty Screen.

Folie Douce was bred in France by Auguste Daubin. She was purchased privately for Greentree Stud during the winter of 1958-1959 and was bred to Ballymoss prior to being imported to the United States. Her last registered foal was born in 1970.

Pedigree notes

Sired by the good steeplechaser Caldarium, Folie Douce is inbred 3x3 to French champion Massine, winner of the 1924 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe and Ascot Gold Cup. She is also inbred 5x5x5 to the unbreaten French champion Ajax and to two-time French champion sire Sans Souci II, winner of the 1907 Grand Prix de Paris.

Folie Douce is a full sister to 1954 Prix Henri Delamarre winner Hidalgo and a half sister to 1960 Grand Prix du Printemps winner Negresco (by Sica Boy; an important sire in Poland) and to 1959 Prix Minerve winner Mandolina (by Ocarina) third dam of multiple Grade 1 winner Better Talk Now. Folie Douce is also a half sister to 1950 Prix de Minerve winner Nuit de Folies, dam of My Night Out (by Phalanx), winner of the 1957 Michigan Mile and One-Sixteenth and the 1958 Clark Handicap; of 1961 Del Mar Derby winner Speak John (by Prince John), the American champion broodmare sire of 1985; and of the minor stakes winner London Jet (by Ridan). Nuit de Folies is also the second dam of 1973 Cotillion Handicap (USA-G1) winner Lilac Hill, 1976 Gran Premio di Milano (ITY-G1) winner Rouge Sang and 1963 Astoria Stakes winner Miss Twist and is the third dam of Grade 3 winner Berry Bush.

Folie Douce is out of 1943 Prix Vermeille winner Folle Nuit (by French stakes winner Astrophel), a full sister to the 1949 Northumberland Plate winner Fol Ami, winner of the 1949 Northumberland Plate. Folle Nuit is out of the winner Folle Passion (by Massine), whose dam Hot Bed (by the City and Suburban Handicap winner Mushroom) was a winner in Ireland and France. Hot Bed, in turn, was produced from Hot Water Bag, a non-winner by 1901 Ascot Gold Vase winner Mackintosh.